Tridon's vision remained blurry for a short moment, but he could hear voices. Voices that were extremely familiar to him. He heard Sayori's voice. His mom's voice. His sister's, Tiffany's, Monika's, Yuri's, and Natsuki's. He heard all of his friends and family.
"Where am I?" Tridon wondered just as his vision cleared. Everything felt like a dream sequence to him. He was initially confused as he saw multiple bubbles with his past memories.
All of his good memories. From when he was first born, to when he first met Sayori, and all of his memories with the girls. Tridon continued walking while observing the memories. A small smile crept on his face the longer he walked.
However, the images changed to showcase his darker actions. All of his ill-fated choices. Even the ones he doesn't remember during his blow ups. But now that he could see them, he couldn't help but detest himself for what he's done.
"This isn't you Tridon." Tiffany interrupted.
"Tiff? The hell are you doing here?"
"You can hear me right?
"I just responded to you, so does that answer your question."
"Good to know you still have a smart mouth. Look Tridon, what you're experiencing is what's going to help you beat this dark persona."
"How? What's going on?"
"I know you might not like it, but Voltrov made the serum I injected you with. Now I'm here to help with your situation."
"Tiff, you've known me my whole life. What makes you think I can be helped. Not even Sayori, my best friend, could help me through this situation. I've just been nothing but trouble."
Tiffany appeared behind Tridon and slapped the back of his head, "Shut it will you?"
"Tiff?"
"Do you even listen to yourself half of the time?"
"Not particularly."
"You're not trouble. Trouble follows you, but you're not the reason for that."
"Yeah. It's me being an enigma. If I wasn't an enigma, there wouldn't be this type of trouble. I'd just be having fun with everyone. But now, I'm doing what I never wanted to do. This stupid secret agent stuff!"
"Tridon," Tiffany wrapped her arms around Tridon and he felt himself grow smaller, "do you remember how this felt?"
"What's going on?" Tridon's voice was higher. He tried to figure out what was going on and he looked at his hands. They were smaller, "Tiff?"
"This is what I did to help calm you down when you were a kid. If you had a bad day at school and you needed someone to talk to, I was always there for you."
"But that's when I was still in elementary school. I'm a senior in high school about to graduate."
"Not right now." Tridon was shown his reflection and he resembled himself from when he was in 2nd grade, "Right now. You're a kid."
"But the girls."
"They can distract Epsilon. You and I," Tiffany spun Tridon and gripped his shoulders, "need to have a much needed to talk. Let it out."
Meanwhile, Tiffany was off to the side with Tridon's unconscious body while Sayori, Monika, and Yuri stood-off with Epsilon.
"What do we do?" Yuri looked at Sayori and added, "We can't fight Epsilon."
"We don't have to. Just keep him away from Tridon and Tiff."
"Right!"
"Split up and surround him!" Sayori ordered, "Keep him away from Tridon!"
"Robert." Epsilon started, but before he could explain, Robert interrupted him.
"Take care of them first, then deal with Tridon. That's an order."
Although hesitant, he responded with a deadpan tone, "Yes sir." He looked at the girls surrounding him and looming around him. He thought back to what Tridon said and whispered it to himself, "A killer blindly following orders."
Jen, Natsuki, and Chelsea made it towards the building on a helicopter and they were about to land when several helicopters appeared from out of nowhere. Helicopters of both the local law enforcement and Robert's army.
"Uh oh." Jen pulled up to dodge the helicopters, "Looks like we stumbled on a helicopter dog fight."
"Either that or the police is preventing us from landing along with Robert's men." Chelsea growled, "What do we do?"
"I'm not a very good pilot. So we probably have to land somewhere else."
"Wait," Natsuki dug through a cache and took out a sniper, "we can land on another roof, but let's set up close by. I say we help Tridon when he gets to Robert."
"Alright." Jen eased up and moved to a nearby building. However, they were still chased by the two helicopters, "Get ready for a fight when we land. I want you two to rappel out of the helicopter over this building. Find the perfect spot while I try and land this thing."
"Right."
Both Natsuki and Chelsea dropped their respective ropes. Chelsea got ready, but Natsuki froze.
"Why are you freezing up Natsuki?" Jen called out, "We've run rappel drills multiple times. This isn't any different."
"We had a soft mat to fall on at the hideout. This landing won't be so soft."
"Well," Chelsea grabbed Natsuki and said, "you already know what's about to happen. Only this time, it's me and not Tridon doing this." Chelsea shoved Natsuki onto the rappel rope and she slid down while screaming, "I mean, she had to go down there one way or another." Jen nodded in agreement while Chelsea followed behind Natsuki.
Meanwhile, Monika was sent across the room while Yuri was countered in oblivion. Sayori watched her friends being beaten by Epsilon with relative ease. Even so, she didn't lose her ground. She didn't cower away. She didn't back down. She knew that they couldn't beat Epsilon. She knew that they never stood a chance. But she also knew that she just needed buy time for Tiffany to deal with Tridon.
"You haven't even tried to fight." Epsilon started, "Are you just ordering these two to do your bidding? Why don't you fight me."
"I know fighting you would be practically suicide." Sayori stepped up and continued, "But you would know a lot about following orders. You are Robert's lap dog. I know people like you don't usually lead people. I expected you to be a lone wolf. Only doing things that would benefit yourself. Not others."
"I only do-."
"What's told of me. I know. I've heard the spiel before. It's rehearsed way too much by someone who isn't very keen on what they want."
All while Sayori was saying this, Monika and Yuri watched on in amazement. Monika slowly stood up and quickly ran over to Yuri to help her up.
"Our training really trained us for everything." Monika commented, "Even the mind manipulation Tridon talked about during our knife training."
"Maybe it's more than that." Yuri added, "I think those two are much more in sync than we might think. What if she's the right match for him?"
"Don't be crazy." Monika quickly shot down, "I'm still in the running of being his wife."
"I think you're skipping some steps there Monika."
"Still." Monika looked back at Tiffany and Tridon and sighed, "I hope Tiff is close to fixing Tridon."
In Tridon's mind, Tridon was still a kid and Tiffany was consoling him. Tiff caressed his head while Tridon laid and stared off in the distance.
"I can't believe I missed all of this." Tiffany started, "All of it. I'm suppose to watch over you and I could barely catch that you were suffering."
"It's probably because I was growing." As Tridon said this, his body grew and grew until he was back in his normal state, "The more I grew, the more you thought I could take care of myself. For the most part, that was true. However, the older I got, the harder it got to maintain myself with only Sayori as a friend. Hiding the fact that I had powers just gave me a fake look. Something fake."
"Do you want to get rid of your powers?"
"Maybe. It'll make my future a lot easier."
"But the future isn't here yet."
"Tiff," Tridon sat up and shook his head, "I don't know what to do. This dark persona. Doing this won't suppress it forever."
"No, but it will help you be able to control it whenever necessary."
"What do you mean. Whenever you feel yourself get like this, find a spot before you lose it and head into here."
"But how will you be here?"
"I won't. It's up to you to figure out a way to control the darkness. Whether it's venting to yourself or-."
"Wait a second. How are you even in here?"
"No time to explain. It's time for you to wake up. Wake up!"
Tridon's eyes shot open when Tiffany shouted at him. He looked around and saw Tiffany holding him. He pushed her off and stood up. Tridon stepped up and took out a handful of grenades.
"I'll distract him. You hand these to the others." Tridon handed Tiffany the grenades, "Knowing you, I think you'll be able to understand what I'm doing." Tridon trudged forward to where Epsilon and Sayori were fighting one another.
Tiffany could only smile and mutter, "Welcome back Tridon."
Meanwhile on the roof nearby, Natsuki and Chelsea were fighting off both law enforcement officers and Robert's soldiers. Chelsea battled it out with law enforcement officers with firearms while Natsuki fought Robert's soldiers through hand-to-hand combat. Jen was still in the air trying to lose the helicopters and their remaining crew.
Natsuki and Chelsea were eventually back to back while being surrounded. Natsuki had her knife out while Chelsea had a rifle in her hands, but she only had the one mag that was in the gun.
"What do we do?"
"Well, they're enemies." Chelsea looked at Natsuki and said, "How about we let them fight each other."
They nodded at one another and they ducked as soon as they fired, shooting each other instead of Natsuki and Chelsea. They stood up and laughed their hearts out.
"Or they could shoot each other." Natsuki said in between, "What a bunch of idiots."
"Come on Natsuki." Chelsea said after catching her breath, "Let's help Jen with her situation."
"Got it." Natsuki wiped a tear from her eyes and set up the sniper. She pressed an ear piece and said, "Jen, do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear Natsuki."
"See if you can fly them around in front of me. I'll take them out for you."
"Alright. You have one shot because I don't think they'll fall for it twice."
"Natsuki," Chelsea interrupted, "I'll take care of Robert's helicopter. See if you can get that police helicopter off of her."
"Got it."
"Be careful you two." Jen interrupted, "Don't make them crash. Just get them off of me. We can't have any collateral damage by having them crash."
"Got it!" They both respond.
Chelsea ran off while Natsuki situated herself on the sniper, "Just remember your training." Natsuki exhaled deeply and looked through the scope, "Line it up. Feel the wind. Know the drop. No spotter, so it's all on intuition." Jen moved across her vision and as if the world slowed down, she pulled the trigger.
The bullet flew through the air and just as the police helicopter crossed, it hit both pilots in their legs. They flinched and pulled off immediately. Natsuki sighed in relief and pulled the bolt back with a massive smile on her face.
Chelsea climbed onto the exit of the roof they were on and aimed her rifle at the helicopter of Robert. She traced it and took some deep breaths, "Squeeze the trigger and use your body to stop the recoil. Keep a stable stance and fire." Chelsea fired at the helicopter and sprayed haphazardly.
Each bullet hit the helicopter and some of the them hit the rotators on it. The gunners on the helicopter turned to her and started to fire, but Chelsea dropped the same shield Jen dropped earlier and it caught every bullet they fired at her. It dropped when there guns overheated and she fired back at them.
She managed to take out the gunners and injured the pilots. They pulled off, finally taking off the heat from Jen.
"Thanks for the back up girls. Now all we gotta do is wait for Tridon and the others to get to Robert's office. Then this'll finally be over."
Tridon and Sayori fought Epsilon together, but he was able to fight them off with ease. No matter what they did, they couldn't find a crack in his defense. Epsilon dropkicked the both of them and sent them flying next to the others.
"I hope your plan works Tridon." Monika helped Tridon up while Yuri helped Sayori up, "Because this is our only chance to get him."
"It will." Tridon nodded his head and the girls proceeded to surround him. He looked at them and nodded. One by one, they attacked Epsilon. First was Yuri who was easily overpowered. Next was Monika who put up a small fight, but quickly fell.
Tiffany managed to be toe-to-toe with Epsilon, but quickly lost her footing. She was thrown away while Tridon and Sayori moved in while he was distracted. They managed to get some hits on Epsilon which caused him to stumble back. They nodded at one another and ran towards him.
However, instead of attacking him again, they rolled forward and placed the grenades on him. They met back with others while Tridon held up a button.
"I wouldn't move if I were you." Tridon started, "Once I press this button, those things will explode instantly."
"What are these." Epsilon tried to rip them off, but a wave of electricity shot through him, sending him to his knees, "What the hell?"
"A new prototype we've been working on." Tiffany commented, "I'm glad they're working as planned."
"When you try to take them off, they'll shock you. Sending over 100,000 volts of electricity through your body. Normally that would incapacitate the normal person, but you're not normal."
"Well," Epsilon groaned, "you got me. Are you finally gonna kill me?"
"No." Tridon answered, "You're not who we're after. Robert is our target."
"Then what are you going to do with me?"
"I'm willing to let you go." Tiffany responded, "Leave now and I'll make sure nothing happens to you."
"We understand that you were just following orders." Sayori added, "You hesitated. You sensed the negativity from Robert."
"Robert might've given me my powers, but he's not a man I would willingly work for." Epsilon stood up and said, "Promise me that you take that man down."
"You know I'll take him down." Tridon answered. Tridon pressed the button and all of the grenades fell off of him making him laugh, "Did you really think I would set off that many explosives?"
"Haha." Epsilon laughed shocking everyone, "You lot are a group of interesting people. I hope we meet again." And with that, Epsilon disappeared.
"Well," Tridon started, "let's get going."
After making their way up, they stood in front of the door. Tridon took a deep breath while Sayori squeezed his shoulder. He took out his handgun and shook his head quickly.
"Let's go." Tridon kicked the door open and charged in with the others. Robert stood staring out his window and slowly turned around, "Robert!"
"You know. I'm impressed you got pass Epsilon, but I should've expected as much. However, you forgot that I'm always one step ahead."
Behind them, Tiffany's team walked in and surrounded them while Lola appeared in front of them. Tiffany looked at her team in shock and frowned at them.
"You traitors!"
"It's common knowledge agent." Robert taunted, "Money can do wonders for people."
"They're on a payroll." Yuri commented, "Same thing for the cops at ground zero."
However, on the roof, Jen looked through the scope and shook her head, "I knew those guys were on a payroll. This should give them an advantage." Jen fired and took out 2 of the turncoat soldiers.
Tridon took this moment to grab the arms of one of them and aimed their gun as they fired at each other. Tridon kicked him and fired into his chest. Lola grabbed him from behind and tried to choke him.
Sayori tackled one of the soldiers and punched them into oblivion. The remaining soldiers were being fought off by Monika and Yuri. Tiffany stared Robert down and moved to get him, but she heard several weapons being loaded behind them.
She turned around to see Voltrov and his men aiming at them. She looked at Robert and shook her head.
"Like I said. I always have backup plans."
"Although," Voltrov started, "I am surprised the serum I did give you didn't kill Tridon. What's going on?"
"You tried to poison him." Tiffany looked at Tridon throw Lola off of him and the both of them glare at one another, "The hell?"
"The reason he wasn't poisoned is because," Erica stomped on Voltrov's foot and used his body to lift herself up and kick all of the soldiers with them. She landed and threw Voltrov over her shoulder, "I switched them."
"Erica?" Monika asked, "Did you really?"
"Yes. Like I said. I don't want to see Tridon suffer."
"He'll have to suffer just a little more." Robert took out a handgun and fired at Erica, shooting her 3 times in her chest.
She fell to the ground and Monika instantly went to check on her. Everyone looked at Robert in shock while he smirked. He aimed at Tridon and fired 3 shots again. However, Lola jumped in front of him and stopped the bullets.
"Lola!" Robert shouted, "You little-." Before Robert could finish, he was shot in the shoulder by Jen across the building. He fell to the ground and grabbed his shoulder, "Damn it."
Tridon walked past Lola and whispered to her, "I'll deal with you later." Tridon walked up to Robert who tried to shoot at him again, but he shoved his arm to the air just as he shot. Tridon lifted him up and held him outside the window.
"Do it." Robert taunted, "This is what you want, right? Remember, if they I die, so does this town. You'll be the reason this town turns into the Slums of Colorado!"
"I know." Tridon looked down below and said, "I could let you go and let you drop 80 stories to your death." However, Tridon brought Robert back in and threw him in the middle of the girls, "But it's not the right thing." He walked back over to them and looked at Lola, "Cuff him Tiff." He grabbed Lola and cuffed her as well, "I got her."
"Tridon..." Yuri walked over to him and took a hold of Lola, "Are you sure this is right?"
"She was an accomplice. She played with us. She made us look like fools." Tridon glared at Lola who avoided his gaze. He has yet to say anything since she appeared, "I'll handle her Yuri."
"But..."
"Make sure our exits are secure. Cuff up Voltrov and his men. We're done here."
"O-Okay..."
Tridon walked over to the window and pressed his earpiece, "We're heading out you 3." He started, "We got 'em."
"Solid Copy Tridon." Jen responded, "Moving to the rendezvous point, out." Jen stood up and looked at the Chelsea and Natsuki before throwing up a thumbs up, "Robert is done."
"Finally!" Natsuki and Chelsea cheered while hugging each other.
"All we gotta do now is book him and maybe we'll find a way to get rid of Tridon and Sayori's powers."
"Alright." Natsuki happily started, "Let's go!"
The day after, Tridon walked towards an interrogation room, but Tiffany stopped him, "What's going on Tiff?"
"I'll handle Robert first Tridon. Lola on the other hand, won't talk to anyone, and I think you're the only one that can get her to talk."
"I said I wanted to save her before, but now I'm second guessing myself."
"She saved you from those gunshots. The least you can do is hear her out or at least get her to talk." Tiffany grabbed his shirt and said, "Don't do anything irrational. Save that for Robert."
"Right." Tridon walked towards another interrogation room and stared at the door. He placed his hand on the door and balled up his hand, "Remember back Tridon. You can do this. Don't lose sight of who she really is. She's just like Erica and Epsilon. Blindly following orders."
Tridon shook his head and walked in. He instantly drew his gaze at Lola who had her head held low and her hands cuffed to the table. Tridon sat across from her and cross his legs.
"Are you only going to talk to me?"
"I'm afraid of what the others will do."
"That's a little obscure. I would much rather see you pay for backstabbing us at our lowest point. I would like to see you take responsibility for playing with our trust. But the others don't think the same as me."
"Huh?"
"They don't see you like I do. They don't see a backstabber. They see someone who was blinded by their older cousin's power."
"If you say that so confidently, then why won't you give me a chance."
"I trusted you." Tridon answered, "I thought that I didn't need to watch my back after the whole Erica fiasco. I thought I could trust people again. I protected you. I became your fake boyfriend. I put my faith into you and you stabbed it!" Tridon slammed his hands on the table and walked over to her.
"Then what are you gonna do?"
"I wanna ask why. I know you didn't want to do what you did with malicious intent. I know only that your older cousin wanted you to help him. But why did you help him?" Lola hesitated, so Tridon took out his revolver and placed the barrel on her head, "Tell me."
"A-At first," she quickly started, "I was only there to spy and report my findings. However, when he saw that I was in too deep, he wanted me to pull out before, in his words, got distracted from my job."
"So you chose it to be during our breakout mission to save Jen?"
"It was the only way I could get back without rising suspicion."
"You could've just up and left like Jen did when she joined our club last year rather than stab us in the back at the worst possible point."
"Tridon," Lola looked up at Tridon and said, "ever since then, I've held regret. I just couldn't do anything about it. I was a rock in a hard place working for my cousin."
"What about your parents? Why did they do this to you."
"Well, he said it himself. Money will do wonders for people."
"Well, after today, his money will be nothing more than printed paper." Tridon moved his gun from her head and finally asked, "I have one more question." She looked at him as he asked, "Do you want to get rid of your powers?"
Tridon stepped out to see Tiffany waiting on him. She ushered him to the next interrogation room to which he walked towards.
"Does she want to get rid of her powers?" She finally asked.
"Yeah. Go ahead and set it up. I won't be long." Tridon walked in to see Robert staring at him, "No witty remarks yet?"
"I have no need to. That captain of yours dried me out. She's real fun to mess with."
"So what was your real plan with me? You wanted to extract my power and then what? World domination seemed too generic and it doesn't seem like you really needed me."
"I didn't need your powers." Robert answered without hesitation, "Oh and not because I didn't want to extract them. I more so wanted to study you. What better way to do that than to make you another Epsilon. I probably would've called you Eta."
"Beta without the b?"
"That's correct?"
"Well, I don't know what brainwashing technique you used on Epsilon, but it probably wouldn't have worked on me."
"You'd be surprised with how similar the two of you are. You'd be very surprised."
"You do know you'll be going away for a long while, right?"
"Yeah. I've already accepted it." Robert stared at Tridon and asked, "Shouldn't you do much more?"
"I don't need to. You're getting what you deserve. My job is done. I don't need to do anything more to you just out of spite. Besides," Tridon proceeded to step out, "where you will be locked up won't exactly be a nice place." Tridon stepped and closed the door. All while Robert could only smirk devilishly.
Tridon was met with Sayori, Monika, Yuri, and Natsuki. Tridon walked past them and they followed closely behind him.
"So is everything over with him now?" Monika asked, "Are we going to be good to head back to the public?"
"After Sayori and I get rid of our powers." Tridon answered, "So how's Erica?"
"She's stable." Natsuki responded, "She'll make a full recovery."
"That's good."
"So we heard that Lola will be getting rid of her powers too." Yuri added, "Were you able to forgive her?"
"Forgive is a stretch. I want her to earn that trust again. I'll give her time to do that."
"So how does this process work?" Sayori wondered, "I'm kinda scared. What if it doesn't work."
"Then we die." Sayori gripped Tridon's shoulder as he said this, "Right." Tridon grabbed a hold of her hand and said, "Sorry about that dude."
"I'm more worried about you." Sayori added, "She said you're a special case."
"I get told that a lot."
"It's your incomplete power. You know. How your power uses a lot of your energy?"
"Yeah." Tridon slowly agreed, "But this is our only chance to finally live the last bit of our high school life normally."
"Do we want that?" Monika asked, "I mean, I know it'll be great since the two of you won't be enigmas anymore, but our adventures won't be a thing."
"Well," Tridon started, "once we leave, the literature will disband. The only thing that made that club fun were the adventures we went on. Once we graduate, any new club members would probably send it to the ground."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying Tridon?" Yuri murmured, "Are you saying-."
"I'm saying we should disband the club while we have the chance." The girls stopped and stared at Tridon, "In the end, we make that club. I don't wanna say this, but I make that club. After I lose my powers, we won't do much. I think if we just spend that after school time hanging out with one another, then I think that would fair better. Besides, I'm going to Lingston for athletics. Not academics."
Sayori stiffened up and asked, "So does this mean after all this is said and done-."
"Yes," Tridon interrupted, "you're gonna buckle down and study to get into Lingston. Mid-terms are next week."
"Oh man..."
"Disbanding the club would give us more studying time." Monika muttered, "Even after dealing with all of this."
"It sucks that we would disband the club, but we all still have each other." Tridon turned around and smiled at the girls, "Right?"
They were rather shocked to see him smile so warmly at them. Despite Tridon still acting the same as he was still different. The girls could hear it in his tone. He felt lighter. Like a large amount of weight was finally off of his shoulders. They smiled brightly back and nodded.
Moments later, Tridon, Sayori, and Lola laid on separate operating tables. Helmets were placed on their heads that were connected to a large console. Tiffany walked around writing on her clipboard while the others watched from outside the room from a one-way window.
"This will most likely hurt." Tiffany commented, "But after this, none of you will be enigmas."
"You ready best friend?" Tridon asked.
"You bet best friend." Sayori responded.
The two of grasped each others hands and waited for it to happen.
An hour passed and the girls waited to see the 3 of them sit up. Sayori and Lola sat up and they were happy. However, they noticed Tridon not sit up. Their hearts dropped for a second until they saw his hand rise and take a hold of Sayori's who hugged him.
He stood up and looked at the ceiling and snapped. Nothing happen. He snapped again and again and again. Tridon fell to his knees and he fell to the ground while Sayori hugged him. The both of them crying in relief.
"His powers are gone." Chelsea commented, "They're really gone."
"Now he doesn't have to live in obscurity." Yuri added, "He can do sports again without having to worry about being discriminated against for being an enigma."
"He can live normally." Natsuki teared up and pressed her face on the glass, "We can hangout normally again."
"Things will finally be normal again." Monika finalized while tearing up herself.
A/N: A normal life awaits Tridon and the girls. All that's left to successfully get Sayori into Lingston, get Monika in the top 100 of the school, and graduation. After Spring Break, they'll have a month and a half to get things done before they graduate. Of course, you lot don't care about that stuff. You care about who Tridon is going to choose. Well, like I said, I already knew who he was gonna choose in Those Time With The Dokis. If you've been reading in between the lines, then you'll know who'll be chosen. So this raises this question for me. This is a follow up on the question I asked in Those TIme With The Dokis. Now that you've voiced who you think and who you'd like to be chosen; let me ask you all this. Who do you think will be chosen. Not who you want to be chosen, but who you think will be chosen? Is your main girl still in the race? Or have they taken a back seat?
It just becomes a drama/comedy from here everyone. There's still some heart-wrenching moments and suspenseful moments, but the comedic appeal will make its comeback. I mean obviously. The Spring Break Arc is coming soon. And you all know what happens on Spring Break ;) Enjoy for now.
